Key-guard.



No. 650,229. Patented May 22, I900.

. H. J. CDMEAU.

KEY GUARD.

-UNITED STATE PATENT Orrucna HILAIRE J. OOMEAU, or HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR OF ONE- HALF o JOHN emson, or SAME PLACE.

' K E -c uARo.

SPECIFICATION forming partof Letters Patent N0.650,229, dated. May 22, 1900. i

Application filed February 12,1900. Serial No. 4,851. No model-J T0 aZZ whom, it; may concern:

Be it known that I, HILAIRE J. OOMEAU, a citizen of the United States of America, and a resident of Hartford, in the county of Hartford and State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvementsin Key- Guards, of which the following is a full,clear, and exact description.

The object of this invention is to combine in a simply-constructed key-guard both convenience and security.

The invention relates to a key-guard of a kind which is composed of a single length of wire peculiarly formed and bent for engagement with and retention in place in relation to both the door-knob and the key; and the invention consists in the key guard constructed of a single length of wire comprising members arranged divergent or in the form of aV, one member thereof having its extremity adapted to engage the door-knob and the other member having its extremity formed to engage the key, the device being adapted when applied in use to develop a spring reaction, whereby the retention of the device in its engagement with the knob and key is insured.

The invention also consists in a key-guard device formed of a single length of wire bent' and formed substantially as shown in the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings, Figure l is a perspective view showing the key-guard in its engagement with both the shank of the door-knob and with the key. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the portion of the key which is grasped to turn it and of the portion of the key-guard device which engages the same. Fig. 3 is an edge View of Fig. 2.

Similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all of the views.

In the drawings, A represents the keyguard, the same comprising the members a and 1), arranged in the form of a V, the one, at, having at its extremity the upwardly-opening forked or U shaped part to straddle under the shank a: of the door-knob, while the member I) has near its end a detour-bend d to engage the aperture in the handle of the key y.

As the key-guard is preferably constructed for the purposes of the greatest possible simplicity and cheapness as well as efficiency,

the same is formed of a single length of hard spring-wire which is intermediately coiled, as

seen at 10, the members a and I) being extended from the coil in divergence, and the member a at a suitable point from its extremity is extended in the return-bend 12, the up-' wardly and downwardly returning parts of which bend stand in a plane at about right angles to that in which the divergent members a and b are comprised, while the end portion of the member ct forms the fork or U shaped knob-engaging portion of the device, which is in a plane parallel with that of the aforesaid members a and b. The other member 1), extended from the spring-coil 10, has the detour part 61, formed by bending the wire into astep-shaped lug or lip, as shown, which part is projected outwardly and ang-ularly relatively to the common plane of parts a and b. The key having been turned in the keyhole to lock the door, the key-guard is applied by engaging the step-formed lip or lug (1 through the aperture in the handle end of the key, and the fork-like part at the other extremity of the device is sprung under and into engagement with the shank of the knob, and as in practice the handle end of the key stands farther beyond the face of the door than the portion of the shank of the knob which is engaged by the fork a there results in the application of the device, in addition to the placing of the parts a and b (which normally stand in about a common plane) under a degree of compression, a twisting or torsional reaction, especially on the extremity b,where by the step-like ing or lip d bears upwardly against the lower edge of the key in the direction indicated by the small arrow in Fig. 3 and so that therefore a greatly-increased security in the retention of the parts in their proper engagements is insured.

The key-guard may practically always remain on the door, for when the door is to be unlocked the guard may be momentarily disengaged to permit the key to be turned to unlock the door, whereupon the guard may be again engaged with the knob and key, which latter has for the unlocking of the door been given half a rotation. Thus the device is susceptible of always being available, serving when the door is locked to prevent the ektremity the upwardlympening fork c to 7 key from being turned or pushed out from the keyhole and serving when the door is unlocked to prevent the key from becoming displaced from the keyhole and accidentally-lost. Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secu re'by Letters Patent,isi 1. A key-guard constructed of wire with members a and b arranged in V form, and joined at their place of convergence, the member a having at its extremity a fork to engage the shank of the knob, while the other mefi ber 19 is'provided at it's extremity with the" offset portion d to engage, through theaper-r tured outer end of the key, substantially as described; Akey-guard constructed of a length of wire comprising the members a and 1) arranged in V form havin g at their junction the I coil 1 O,'and the member a having at its free engage the knob-shank, while the member I) is constructed at its extremity with the stepshaped, and offset, part d to engage through the apertured outer end of the key.

3. A keyguard constructed of a single length of wire, the middle part of which is formed intothe coils 10, and having the members a and 1) extended in divergence therefrom and both approximately in the same plane, the member a having near its extremity the upstandingreturn-bend 12 continued %Wardly in the fork c, and the member b having near its extremity the step-shaped bend .d, substantially as described and shown.

Signed by me at Springfield, Massachusetts, this 8th day of February, 1900. I

-HILAIRE J. COMEAU.

WVitne'sses 7 WM. S. BELLoWs,

M. A. CAMPBELL. 

